Dancing Water Speakers: Looks Great, Sounds Awful
It's the esthetics, not the sound, that makes these speakers cool.
Dec. 21, 2011— -- Soundmaster Dancing Water Speakers are one of those gadgets that look much better on the box than when you play with it.
The promise of multi-colored streams of water shooting up in beat to whatever music is playing through them is intriguing. But it is the esthetics, not the sound, that makes these 9-inch high, almost 2-inch wide speaker towers cool. But the sound quality is terrible.
Setup was easy. Users have the option of plugging the speakers into a computer through a USB port or using the audio jack to plug them into an iPod, which is smart design. No power cord is needed because the speakers run off the power of the device.
The photo on the box features a young DJ using the water speakers to host a neon-themed dance party for his friends. Since the scene looks like something from a LMFAO music video, I tested the speakers with one of their songs.
But the amusement of seeing the LED-lit water shoot up in beat with the hard notes of "Party Rock Anthem" quickly wore off. All I got was treble sound, with no bass whatsoever. Not sure what I was expecting with speaker cones roughly the size of a 50-cent piece, but I thought I would get some layers of sound. It became worse the louder I turned up the music -- when cranked all the way up, the speakers sounded like a blown out '90s boom box.
The other letdown is the sound of the streams of water hitting the top of the 6-inch plastic case, which sort of sounds like a weak garden hose, is just as loud as the music coming out of the speakers.
One positive note: the lights made colorful reflections on my ceiling.
If you're really struggling for last-minute gift ideas, the water speakers will dazzle that young niece of yours, for whom you really didn't want to buy another Barbie. But don't buy these speakers for anyone who is serious about sound quality. Soundmasters they are not.
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